Brussels, 27/05/2013 (Agence Europe) - During his visit to Italy, Commissioner Johannes Hahn said it was urgent for the country to absorb the remaining structural funds by the end of the planning period. It is a tough challenge because €31 billion still needs to be invested and, if this challenge is to be met, it will be necessary to enhance administrative capacity and possibly reprogramme certain funds.
On 27 and 28 May, the commissioner has meetings with the new Italian minister for cohesion policy, Carlo Trigilia, and his counterpart at the Treasury, Fabrizio Saccomanni, as well as the presidents of the Sicilian, Calabrian and Lazzio regions. The question of effective structural funds implementation during the next programming period in the country (2014-2020), as well as the envelope available to Italy under the current programming period, was to be discussed. Although absorption rates have improved sharply over the past two years from 18% in April 2011 to the current rate of 40%, the commissioner was obliged to underline the seriousness of the current situation and, speaking in Rome on Monday 27 May, declared: “First of all Italy should be aware that, together with national co-financing, they have still to absorb €31 billion before the end of 2015 (Ed: including €16 billion from the EU). Which is still much more they had so far used in the past 6 years. This is really a challenge for the administrative system in the regions and also at national level”. Italy's administrative capacity could also be improved by reducing the level of civil servant rotation and by making public procurement and auditing more transparent. Speaking at the public administration forum in Rome on Tuesday 28 May, the commissioner suggested that, to prevent any resources being wasted, they make “spending targets more binding, use resources elsewhere if they have not been spent within a certain time frame and that they enhance technical support for weaker programmes”. He has already been able to acknowledge a number of encouraging signs from the Italian authorities in this connection. He welcomed the fact that the minister responsible for territorial cohesion is reducing the list of future investments from 400 to 100 key operations. The Italian authorities are also now going to examine which programmes are performing effectively and which are not, in an effort to focus funds towards areas where they can be most useful. This re-programming may take place by the summer and should, above all, be beneficial to SMEs and entrepreneurs. There is also the possibility that the Italian government may set up an agency especially dedicated to coordinating European funds. The Calabrian region may also imitate the line adopted by the Sicilian and Campania regions, which both have taskforces to better manage their cohesion policy funding envelopes. (MD/transl.fl)